State dismisses "robocall" ethics complaint against Hollywood mayor

(Sun Sentinel, file photo )

May 11, 2012|By Tonya Alanez, Sun Sentinel

HOLLYWOOD — A victim of the city's new robocalling campaign got so fed up with the repeated calls that he filed an ethics complaint against the mayor claiming "intentional harassment and intimidation by the city through the power of the mayor's office."

The state's ethics commission dismissed the complaint Thursday for failure to establish that Mayor Peter Bober "corruptly" misused his public position.

"Even the IRS doesn't call people five times a day, seven days a week, even on Easter Sunday," Stephen Hill, 60, said Wednesday. "It is ethically wrong for the mayor, or any elected or appointed official to intentionally harass their citizens in any manner. What this is, is an inexpensive method, using technology, to cower citizens into submission."

Bober did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

To eradicate a pet peeve of the mayor's — those unsightly little signs that illegally clutter public medians offering to buy gold and junk cars and so on — the city in March began placing up to 20 automatic calls a day to each number it collected from the signs.

An offender can put an end to the calls by going to the police department, paying a fine and confirming that the signs have been removed.

Hill admits his phone number was on signs offering to buy homes and says he was willing to rectify any wrong he may have committed.

"But in all of my life, I have never been subjected to a harassment of this scope," Hill wrote in his March 30 complaint. "What will the mayor do if I am behind on my property taxes … call me 10 times a day … send the police to my house? Arrest me? ... This has to stop. Can you help me?"

The commission dismissed the complaint for "legal insufficiency."

Hill failed to establish that Bober "corruptly" used his public position or power of his office to set the policy or initiate the calls, the commission wrote in its report Thursday.

In the meantime, Hill has escaped the robocall hell. The city removed his name from its call list about two weeks ago.